Weather, Email And wireless Communication Solutions For Satellite And Cellular Services
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- What they are saying about...
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- Customer Support
- In General
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Awards & Testimonials
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WeatherNet took home the Sail
Magazine 2004 Pittman Editor’s Choice award From SAIL Magazine Feb 2004, page 58... "Much of WeatherNet’s genius takes place behind the scenes, inside onboard software and shore side servers. OCENS’ goal is similar - efficiently getting you to the bytes you need over a slow connections – but its approach is much more economical (than the competition). WeatherNet offers literally thousands of data options – via Iridium, Globalstar, Mini-M, SSB, or even cellular – for batch downloading. You pay by the piece, even for “free” government data, but the system’s high speed results in a net savings, not to mention less hassle. OCENS has used the same smokin’ technology to create a sister service that lets you run e-mail software like Outlook “20 times faster” over a skinny pipe.” |
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Station 2000 Receives Innovation
Award OCENS has received the 2000 Freeman K. Pittman Award for Innovation in Communications Electronics. Awarded annually, the Pittman honor recognizes new innovative products that stand out from their peers. In reaching their decision, judges considered Station 2000's overall design, originality, ease of use, price/value ratio and the potential or realized impact the product has on the sailing community at large. The Freeman K. Pittman Award is sponsored by SAIL Magazine and was presented to OCENS at ceremonies in Atlantic City on January 20. |
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OCENS Mail and WeatherNet services have been recognized by Globalstar as approved value added services for Globalstar. |
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Iridium Solution Certification Based on the completion of the test of OCENS Mail and WeatherNet applications (“Products”) performed at Bethesda, MD, Iridium Satellite LLC hereby issues a Solution Certification. This letter is confirmation that the Products have satisfied the requirements stated in the Value Added Developer Agreement. |
What Users are Saying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| "Satellite Communications" PassageMaker Magazine July/August 09 |
| "Know the Drill, Paid Weather Services..." PassageMaker Magazine
July/August 09 |
|
Click Here for "Island Time - Saving lives and credit
ratings", found in Soundings 2/1/07 by Peter Swanson, Electronics editor for PassageMaker Magazine |
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Click Here for the review in Ocean Navigator 7/25/07
by Chris Parker, author of Coastal and Offshore Weather and prepares forecasts for the Caribbean Weather Center. |
| About OCENS Mail... |
| Just to let you all know, we are
keeping the ocens.net as our email address, full time.
It's a great service !! -Karen Zarley |
| I am currently crossing the South China Sea on my way back to Hong Kong and have to say your OCENS Mail software has been absolutely brilliant! Best regards -David Smith |
| May I just say the OCENS Mail is
all it is advertised to be and more. I used it exclusively
on my annual cruise from Hong Kong to the Philippines
and back and was absolutely astounded how excellent
it was. My average connection time for email was 49
seconds. Truly brilliant! Brgds -David (Iridium user) |
| "Hello from off the African coast
north of the Cape Verdies. This OCENS is magic. When
our sailmail subscription runs out (ssb - pactor modem)
will buy a second Iridium phone as a back up and use
OCENS exclusively. Thanks," -Scott |
| "Just a short note to tell you how
impressed we are with OCENS mail and the support we
have had from your company. We do appreciate great support
people and a company that can respond quickly to customer
problems. Again thanks for the great service." - Bruce & Carla Porter, Carlacat |
| "Just wanted to drop a note to you
that the e-mail system is really really working great.
The speed is nothing short of fantastic. Using Verizon
cell, or Verizon wireless card, or Globalstar, or my
"home wireless system" .... All work with such speed
it is amazing. You should be selling this system to
every boat that floats around the world !!!!!! Just moved "True Grit" from Miami to Ocean City, NJ last week. I have been using the Verizon Broad Band wireless card for 2 months. Sitting in the marina at Coconut Grove, FL the speed of the Broad Band was almost like a cable modem. FAST! On the move to NJ most major areas had the coverage. If no Broad Band coverage card switched to the slower 14.4 Kb that had better coverage. Using the "data" connection (9,600 baud) of the Globalstar phone (where I have no Verizon connection) and using the "OCENS" e-mail compression software, I can down load 15-20 e-mails in less then a min. You prepare you e-mails "before sending" then send all at once. Same with reading e-mails, you down load them at one time, then read them off line." - Bob Wilkins, Ocean City, NJ |
| "I just installed everything in
another computer and weather and email worked perfectly.
I got 41 emails in about 4 minutes. You can quote me
in saying that this is one of the most impressive software
programs I have ever seen. I harkens back to when software
developers needed to be smart. Communications and driver
software has long been known to require a few great
software artists, as you clearly have in your company,
and not the flocks of mediocre “teams”. No sane boater
would be without this program." - Bill Bane “Satchmo” M/V Nordhavn 46, In the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally |
| "...for some reason I resisted using
your mail for months and finally got it going. It truly
is wonderful." - Eric Bloomquist |
| "We would like to renew with OCENS
for another three months. We are so pleased with this
service. It is our lifeline home, family and business
on land. Thanks to your staff for being so accessible
too!" - Virginia Daughtrey s/v Chessel |
| "On the good reports to you for
your use: I now have the latest Vodafone "3G" card and
service. It is surprisingly available in Italy, and
even for some distance out at sea (once at 9 miles out).
When 3G is not available, I have set the program to
drop to GPRS. With both of these services, the strength
of the signal varies up and down. OCENS ALWAYS finds
a way to work with the available signal." - Bill Baine |
| "Your email reminded me of my intentions
to write you a note about our recent exposure to the
OCENS software, OCENS Mail in particular. I have used a number of others, but none come close to matching the ease, simplicity, efficiency and reliability of yours. Your support people were very friendly, knowledgeable and patient. The air time was never more than 60 seconds even when there were multiple emails to send and receive. The system at the server to limit file sizes or except them worked beautifully, as stated. We had both Sailmail and Winlink available as options, but never used them beyond confirming that they worked. If you have the time and interest, check out http://www.marionbermuda.com/2003/notes.shtml. We did a string of emails during our race to Bermuda last month. The Marion-Bermuda webmaster picked them up and posted them on their site. It’s rare that I would write a testimonial, but this was the exception. This is superb software and service!" - Arthur Bone, s/v Ariel |
| "I was able to test OCENS during
my cruise in British Columbia, and will be strongly
recommending it. I was able to download and upload with
OCENS in less than one minute, often getting 10 emails.
Your product works, and I appreciate the ability to
test it. I will subscribe for next year's use or sooner
if I have need for satellite communications. Thank
you for the opportunity." - Gary |
| "Here is what I've found so far
in SE Alaska on my Globalstar phone. We use it every
day to do mail. We use OCENS (www.ocens.com) mail product
that seems to be working well for us. We can send and
get our messages (less than 20 small messages) in less
than two minutes, usually less than one." - Mike Harrington M/V Meander, SE Alaska |
| About WeatherNet... |
| "Hi, wanted to let you know that I used your products last summer on my trip through the Northwest Passage (www.northwestpassagefilm.com) and hands down your service was the most reliable thing on the whole trip. It was uncanny; You definitely helped make a very arduous, five month trip, somewhat predictable and straight forward. Many, many thanks!" Sprague Theobald |
| "I use WeatherNet in all my deliveries,
it's the only game in town. You can go ahead and put
that in your commercial!" -Jack Harvey |
| Just so you know, a small story.
We left St. Thomas the same day that boat that was lost
off Cape Hatteress earlier in the month. I believe they
were slightly to west of us as they were headed to Annapolis
and we were basically on the direct line to Newport. We downloaded the GRIB files late afternoon Friday 4 May and took one look at the weather prediction, it was obvious from the surface wind speed and surface pressure data that the gulf stream would be no place to be by Monday. We then contacted our on shore weather router who confirmed our decision to head to safe harbor 15 minutes later by e-mail. We were in a position to make Bermuda, which we arrived Sunday Morning 6 May. By 3 PM Sunday we had double dock lines and watched the very bad weather from the safety of Bermuda Harbor Monday 7 May the day the boat was lost and 3 other vessels issued distress calls. I personally will never again go offshore without access to WeatherNet. I will continue to use a shore based router to gain access to the larger picture and to confirm our decisions based on the WeatherNet file down loads made aboard. Great product, and, seamless reliable software. RGDS -AJ Fougere AVATAR |
| I am looking forward to crossing
the oceans with your system as there is nothing I am
aware of that equals it. Thanks again for all your help... Out for now," -Robert and Elyse |
| "OCENS is amazingly fast. To be
able to look at the actual images, the 72hr wind and
wave predictions, enlarge them, etc. PRICELESS. You
have a very good product. Only a fool would not have
OCENS on board when doing any coastal cruising or blue
water crossings. Here the storms are rolling in one
after another, you just cannot ignore the weather and
be safe. The more I use it the more I am impressed. Thanks" -Peter Treleaven Soul Sender Abacos, Bahamas |
Skippers praise OCENS Weather Net forecasts'No record without it' |
| MacWX has proved very useful. Last month while at sea off Chile, I had an email from a colleague encountering storms off New England. They assumed I was at work in Massachusetts. Instead I used MacWX to request the surface analysis and forecast products for the western N. Atlantic and was able to develop good guidance for the research cruise off New England. Thanks for a good program! -Bob Weller |
| "I want to tell you how helpful
your GRIB Explorer Software and OCENS WeatherNet Gold
were to me in the 2006 Newport-Bermuda Race. As the
navigator and foredeck man on a boat entered in the
Doublehanded Spinnaker Class, I had very little time
for navigation. Using your fast and valuable product,
I got decisionable information very quickly. This was
of great help in getting me a strong finish." - Ron Canizares |
| "I used WeatherNet and the GRIB
Explorer in the Regata de Amigos race last month and
finished first in class. Results are at
http://www.veracruzregatta.com/2006results.htm.
My boat is Rosalita. The winds were extremely
light for a few days and everyone in our fleet had to
motor some thereby being classified as motor sailing
with penalty time for the motoring." - Jeff Hart |
| "Thanks so much for your visit to
MAKAI prior to the big Race and for your tutelage on
OCENS weather software. We won 2nd
in Class honors so your education paid off!" - Jeff White |
| "Thank you for helping set up weather
net for Regatta. It worked very well and easily. We viewed it daily and it helped with our strategic decisions." - Bill Wade |
| "Just in passing too. My compliments
on the
GRIB Explorer package.
I'm sure I have not got the absolute best out of it
yet, but the presentation of data is excellent and it
seems pretty user friendly, even to the 'barely
literate'" - Peter |
| "WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!!!!!!! =) =)
GRIB Explorer ROCKS. Very nice weather info. Very
nice product," - Gino |
| "...you folks are wonderful! Wish
everyone else would give support and service like you
do." - Sara Wise - s/v Wayfinder |
| "The email and WX stuff you installed
is outstanding. We use it effortlessly and are astonished
at the email speed." - Chuck Wistar s/v Celebrate |
| "Success in the Transatlantic race
with a first in our class. The software and e-mail system
worked well, and was very effective over the Mini M
connection as well as Globalstar." - Michael Lawson, s/v Tempest |
| I have been most impressed with
your software and with you personal service. I want
you to know that I have been impressed not only with
our mail program but with the WeatherNet. When we were
in a bad low pressure system three days ago and trying
to make decisions based upon weather. The ability to
get information via your programs was greatly reassuring.
Thanks again, - Bill Huddleston aboard Shearwater III |
| Thanks for getting back to me. Before
we get all busy here again, we wanted to take the time
to say ( again) that: You and your company have consistently exceeded our expectations in terms of customer service and excellence. In the dozens of interactions we have had with many members of your staff, about a wide variety of subjects, everyone has always been intelligent, courteous, knowledgeable, and fast to respond. Goods have always been shipped exactly as requested, exactly when promised, and correctly addressed. Questions are always answered fast and accurately. We do business with a wide variety of companies and find that consistent excellence is very very rare. With you, there don't seem to be "good days" and "bad days." Every day is excellent.. This kind of overall superiority has to be more than coincidence, it is obviously a company culture or philosophy, and we applaud it. - M/V Ocean Explorer |
| Thanks for your help. Your technical
support and products are outstanding. - Glenn Tuttle |
| In addition email via Outlook and
the OCENS gateway, I demo'd Xweb with both the BBC and
CNN as well as WeatherNet. Just amazing what you and
your team have built ... it really does work better
than I had dared imagine. Thank you again for your patience
and support throughout this past week. You won both
a fan and for OCENS a long-term client. Kindest regards, - Ralph Ingersoll |
| I really cannot express how happy
and useful this product is Thank you, - Bruce w Porter |
| It works GREAT!! Terrific...as promised.
This is the greatest thing for mariners since sliced
bread. We will certainly sing your praises to all whom
we meet. It seems perfect, no glitches at all. - M/Y Ocean Explorer |
| I am aboard my Hunter 466 and just
got HIT by a weather front out of the NW I was NOT prepared
for. On a moonless night at 3am heading for the shallow,
narrow Davis Channel at the south tip of Eleuthera,
Bahamas and the rocky lee coast. I would like to have
your software "WeatherNet" that was presented at the
Miami Boat Show. I have an ICOM IC-M710 and the new
Pactor III. - Mike Harker |
| "I was competing in the Daimler
Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge as the navigator and
tactician aboard Zukunft IV. We finished 4th in RC and
2nd in IMS on corrected time. WeatherNet was a valuable
and reliable tool for the download of weather fax charts
and text forecasts throughout the race. The download
times via SSB and Iridium were as short as it is claimed
by OCENS. We would not have been able to use the SSB
for downloading weather fax charts without WeatherNet." - Berend Terveer, Daimler Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge |
| We recently downloaded 2 Gulf of
Mexico ocean temperature charts over a Globalstar phone.
Using the conventional tools the download took 10 minutes.
Using WeatherNet the same download took 50 seconds for
a savings of $7.50. - WeatherNet User |
| "The trip back was near-ideal, due
in part to the excellent WeatherNet predictions. We
made the 360 miles back to Key West in 47 hours. Several
other boats found out about our GRIB files and used
the current and weather information to plan their return
trip and travel along with us. The correct file was
especially useful in allowing us to plan the most favorable
route both ways. All in all, our experience in Isla
Mujeres has been the best of our sailing ventures." - Pat & Bill Garner, s/v Ubiquitous |
| "To anyone who makes their living
on the water the OCENS WeatherNet product is a must."
- Tom Branshaw, Owner & Captain, FV Northern Mariner, Cordova, AK |
| "Thanks Rachelle. We had fun and
with the Bermuda race we would not have won without
being able to download the Gulf current temperatures. For Halifax it was nice to check on the changing winds since the weather models were wrong at the start. We didn't break the record because of the light winds but at least on elapsed time we won the entire race." - Lars Svensson |
| "Be assured , so far they are rating
the product as one of the best Weather forecasts for
the North Sea they have ever seen." - Andrew (Selex Communications) |
| About our Customer Service... |
| "Just wanted to drop you a line thanking you and your staff for all the help installing OCENS mail, sailblogs and x-web. They were truly helpful as we walked through a number of issues installing the various applications on a new MacBook Pro with the Snow Leopard operating system.
These new operating platforms always bring with them numerous compatibility issues -- especially when some of the third-party applications that you use (like Thunderbird) are beyond your design control. They helped us install OCENSmail using MacMail as the interface after several unsuccessful attempts with Thunderbird. Their patients and unrelenting approach got us around the problems, and we are now happily test-driving all the applications before we return from NYC to our boat, Aries Too, waiting in Stuart, FL to begin our winter/spring cruising in the Bahamas." Best regards from Douglas Klassen and Linda Bialecki on AriesToo (a Krogen Express 53) |
| "Thank you for all your help today,
July 4th; I don't think I could have gotten it done
without you. I am impressed with this level of support,
even on the biggest national holiday in the USA. Rachelle
helped us out in the Marion-Bermuda race a few weeks
ago when we got the wrong serial port from an Iridium
supplier." -Jack Harvey- |
| "Thanks again for everything.. I
really appreciate your attention and follow through..
It's service like yours that makes me feel good about
doing business with OCENS." - Derik Wagner - Global Satellite USA |
| "Thanks for the update. I am pleased
to see you guys take such quick action but not really
surprised since you have always been very responsive
to any problem I have had in the past. I hope this can
help make your product even better. A happy customer," -William Headrick |
| "Thanks for getting back to me.
Before we get all busy here again, we wanted to take
the time to say ( again) that: You and your company
have consistently exceeded our expectations in terms
of customer service and excellence. In the dozens of
interactions we have had with many members of your staff,
about a wide variety of subjects, everyone has always
been intelligent, courteous, knowledgeable, and fast
to respond. Goods have always been shipped exactly as
requested, exactly when promised, and correctly addressed.
Questions are always answered fast and accurately. We do business with a wide variety of companies and find that consistent excellence is very very rare. With you, there don't seem to be "good days" and "bad days." Every day is excellent.. This kind of overall superiority has to be more than coincidence, it is obviously a company culture or philosophy, and we applaud it. again." - M/V Ocean Explorer |
| "Thanks for your help. Your technical
support and products are outstanding." - Glenn Tuttle |
| "Hi Mark&Jeff, I have been back
home from the Global-Challenge for a couple of months
now and things are starting to feel a little more normal!
While the Global-Challenge ended farther differently
than I imagined, Sark won both Southern-Ocean Legs,
holds the record for Leg2 and was the first boat round
Cape-Horn and the first boat to complete her circumnavigation.
OCENS made this possible! I would like to thank you
& OCENS for your support :) I have valued our relationship
immensely and learned so much personally from you...please
accept my warmest thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you :)" - Simon Bell, "s/v Spirit of Sark" Global Challenge |
| In General... |
| "The MSAT system and OCENS software
have revolutionized vessel communication and made it
affordable for the average mariner." - Tim Kinkopf, Marine Operations Mgr, Naknek Barge Lines |
| I am writing to thank you for all
of your advice and assistance over the past 4 months
as I have worked with OCENS mail and WeatherNet. You
were always available, returned every call and solved
all of my problems, allowing me to enjoy these tools
that will make our voyage safe and comfortable. I also
want to complement you on the clarity and helpfulness
of the Help sections - they are a model for other tech
support services and a concise reference for refreshing
the information after a period away from the computer.
Again, we thank you. - Patrick, Susan and Jonathan Coonan |
| Success in the Transatlantic race
with a first in our class. The software and e-mail system
worked well, and was very effective over the Mini M
connection as well as Globalstar. - Michael Lawson, s/v Tempest |
| "Dear Sir, Colin Thomas at Straits sailing in Gibraltar has steered me to your products. Being a luddite where computers are concerned I have surprisingly experienced little problems setting the programs to work with Iridium. Your product is great. Rachelle in your support team has proved absolutely fantastic, she has replied to e-mails immediately and seems to have bent over backwards in order to get us to sea. She is a credit to your company and as you know it is the people we talk to that sells your product. She is polite, humorous and extremely efficient. Thank you," -Andy |
| Thank you very much for this first
class reliable service of yours! Best Hubertus Brockhaus |
| I recently saw your OCENS software
[WeatherNet and email service] working on a visiting
yacht here in Gibraltar and was very impressed. So much
so that I would now like to install the system on one
of our charter yachts that makes the trans-Atlantic
crossing every year to the Caribbean. - Colin Thomas, Straits Sailing - http://www.straits-sail.com |
| You have two of the best cruising
products out there and look forward to using them next
time we head out. - Graham Norbury |
| Hey guys and gals, Thank you very
much for your rapid help. I really rely on OCENS for
both my mail and weather. We could not have made the
trip from the USA to Venezuela without your reliable
service and dependable weather downloads. I am not a
computer genius and I often will encounter a problem
that is beyond my abilities to fix. I appreciate your
dedication to your products and service. - Grant Grove, On board "Reality", Venezuela, South America |
| "you guys are great and I am very
happy with the system and mostly your information." - Chris D'Amore |
| "Your support of this project has
made such a difference. We presently have Adrian tucked
away only a few miles from land but also the same storm
that is demolishing the Volvo Ocean Race fleet off the
west coast of Portugal. This degree of accuracy would
not have been possible without your software." - Ricardo Diniz, Delfinus Solutions - www.goportugal.org |
| I have been most impressed with
your software and with your personal service. I want
you to know that I have been impressed not only with
our mail program but with the WeatherNet. When we were
in a bad low pressure system three days ago and trying
to make decisions based upon weather. The ability to
get information via your programs was greatly reassuring.
Thanks Again, - Bill Huddleston aboard Shearwater III |
| "You have two of the best cruising
products out there and look forward to using them next
time we head out." - Graham Norbury |
| "I really have to admit, after screening
all the sources, OCENS has established itself in a unique
market position. Very pleased with software and service." - Thomas Gattinger |